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UK Freight Forwarding Firm in JV

UK forwarding and logistics services group Seafast Logistics this week announced the formation of a joint-venture partnership with long-established Iranian logistics provider Seven Seas Tehran. This followed the lifting last weekend of nuclear-related trade sanctions imposed upon Iran.

Believed by the two companies to be the first of its kind, the joint venture will be known as "Iran Shipping & Logistics Limited" (ISLL) and was registered with UK authorities in August 2015, immediately following the announcement of the nuclear-related agreement with the European and US governments, freight forwarding industry's journal Lloyd's Loading List reported.

The respective owners of Seafast and Seven Seas have a long-established working relationship spanning over 20 years, dating back to the days of Contship Container Lines and CP Ships, which were headed at the time by Seafast CEO David Halliday.

During that time, Seven Seas acted as representatives of those shipping lines in Tehran. The chairman of Seven Seas Iran said he was delighted that developments now permit Seven Seas and Seafast to activate their plans to provide global shipping and logistics services from 90 countries to and from Iranian ports.

Halliday commented: “We have been patiently waiting for this opportunity, and through the collective knowledge and experience of Seafast and Seven Seas, our JV partnership “Iran Shipping and Logistics Limited” is now able to offer immediate solutions for container shipping, as well as break bulk, project cargoes, refrigerated goods and air freight into and from all Iranian ports.

ISLL will cover shipments under its own contracts of carriage duly insured and use its extensive global network to design and implement bespoke transportation solutions, according to individual customer requirements.

Planning meetings were reportedly convened in Tehran in the past week in anticipation of the sanctions being lifted. These were attended by a number of ISLL overseas members covering Asian and European regions, and chaired jointly by Seven Seas and Seafast, the founding partners of the JV company.